Elusive Italian Kasey Olenberger hopes to join Florida Marlins later this year

During the World Baseball Classic last March, one name on Team Italy stuck out like brautwurst on a pizza:

Olenberger.

Now, that’s not Italian! At least, it doesn’t quite roll off the tongue like an Italian name.

“I was the only guy on the team to not have an Italian last name. Oh, they gave me so much grief, all the Italians did,” Kasey Olenberger said.
Olenberger, a right-hander who was re-assigned to Marlins minor league camp last week, swears he does indeed have Italian ancestry. His father is German, but his grandmother, whose name was Micheletti, is from northern Italy.

It didn’t matter. The ribbing continued, “all in good fun,” he said.

But at one point, Olenberger, who also pitched for Italy’s classic team in 2006, said he asked Italian organizers: ” ‘Wouldn’t it be easier if I just wore my Italian name?’ They were like, ‘No, no, no. This is fine.’ I kept saying, ‘No, you’re not understanding me. This is for my sanity,”’ he said, laughing.

The German name stayed on the back of his Team Italy jersey, and it all worked out just fine. After all, it was his participation in the tournament that led to an invitation to Marlins camp this spring.

On March 4, 2009, Team Italy beat the Marlins, 5-1, in an exhibition game at Roger Dean Stadium before the start of the Classic. Olenberger entered the game in relief in the ninth inning and recorded the final out, a strike out.

After the game, Olenberger was told by Brandon Hyde, his friend from Santa Rosa, Calif, that he’d made an impression on the Marlins.

In April, after Italy was eliminated from tournament, Olenbrger signed a minor league contract and went on to an impressive season with Class AA Jacksonville: 7-1 with a 1.10 ERA in 52 games, including one start.

“I was lucky I got a job last year just because I threw against them and threw well,” said Oleberger, who turned 32 last week. “I might have gone back to Italy.”’

Olenberger made quite an impression on the Marlins again this spring.

“He throws strikes,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “He may be another guy we may see during the course of the year. That’s what I told him.”

If Olenberger gets called up later this year by the Marlins, it would end quite an odysee. He pitched for Long Beach State University, for the Solana Steelheads of the independent Western League. He came back from elbow-ligament surgery in 2001 and pitched for the Los Angeles Angels minor league system. He pitched in Taiwan and in Italy, where he said his Parma team’s sponsor was a winery.

He has had one losing seasons in five minor league seasons, when he went 4-6 in 2008 for Class AAA Salt Lake.

“Every year, Parma calls and asks, ‘Are you coming back this year?’ Not this year.”

Hensley, Miller throw on a rainy off-day
Andrew Miller and Clay Hensley both threw to hitters today in a simulated game.

The Marlins host the Orioles on Tuesday in Jupiter. Ricky Nolasco will start against Jeremy Guthrie.